The thin line between love and hate
by IheartMalik
Summary: "Even after everything, I'm still the one being judged!" I glared at Erik, shooting daggers at him. He stood still, a meter away from me before slowly walking towards me. "Who said I was still judging?" First Class fic. Erik/OC
1. Prologue

"…. It's a very groovy mutation. Mutation took us…"

I rolled my eyes and looked at Raven, who threw me the same bored expression I had.

Charles was using his usual mutation monologue on some girl at the bar, Amy, if that's what her name was.

I honestly never understood how this geeky monologue was doing the trick for Charles. However I would never come to know of that. I looked up and said a silent thank you to the Almighty above me for not putting me in that position.

Well, Raven had her theories though.

She believed it all had to do with the 'Xavier Charm', as she liked to put it and laid out its two postulates;

blue eyes: The way it bounced along the monologue made it hard for anyone to focus on what he was saying, not to mention the blue tinge of his eyes made every girl a sucker for him.

smile: The way he smiled made it hard for anyone to recollect the amount of times he said the word "Mutation."

Yes, these were probably the reasons why Charles was able to pick up girls.

However, I was in no mood to be squeezing in the back seat of a cab with three other people and glanced at Raven. It was her turn.

She got up and sent me a devious smirk, and that was all I needed.

"Huh, guess I have to buy my own drink." She said, striding up towards Charles and Amy but left a bit of a gap so I could see what was happening.

"I'm sorry. One cola." He signaled towards the bartender.

"Charles here was just telling me that I'm like one of the first sea creatures that grew legs."

_Pfft. _Was that all she interpreted from his mutation speech? His choice in women was seriously dropping by the day.

"Tiny bit sexier."

Oh please Charles, I would rather stick pins in my eyes.

"I'm sorry, this is my sister Raven."

The look Raven gave Charles made me want to hand her over an Oscar. I had to admit, she had skills.

"Hi, Amy." She put on a fake smile and shook her hand.

"And what are you studying?"

"Waitressing."

I had to say that line worked every time. Amy shifted uncomfortably on her seat and turned to Charles. Raven turned back and I saw a golden tinge in one of her eyes. Yes, Raven was wrapping up her act.

"Look at her eye." Amy saw with fascination and as Charles noticed, looking completely unimpressed, which was probably what had made him look so comical. I burst out laughing from my seat, earning weird stares from people around me that I didn't really care for. This was totally worth it.

"Right, Raven, get your coat please." Charles threw some cash on the counter and walked over to me. "You too Katherine."

I got up, with my coat on one hand and literally ran behind Raven and Charles, who had already walked out.

"Don't talk to me. You did that on purpose." He said angrily.

"I did not." Raven defended herself. "Why would I do it on purpose? You know I can't control it sometimes, if I'm stressed or I'm tired."

"And you," he turned to face me as I tried to bite away a laugh. "This was all your idea, wasn't it?"

I raised my hands in the air, taking a step back. "In my defense, I really wanted to have a comfortable ride back home."

"Not to mention we wanted to sleep." Raven added. "Which would be impossible with all those sounds coming from your room."

"Have I ever mentioned how disturbing it is Charles?" I said, glancing at my older brother.

"God, if I hadn't loved the two of you, you both would pay." Charles looked at us sternly, as if he was trying to warn us. Well, he was doing a pretty bad job at that.

"No, we won't." Raven slipped her hand around his.

"Because you love us." I smirked and held his other hand.

"You two are going to be the death of me." He grinned as the three of us walked on.

This was my family. Charles and I were fraternal twins, having only inherited our father's chestnut brown hair in common. Besides that, we were different. While he had pale skin and blue eyes, I had an olive tan skin and brown eyes (courtesy to my father). Although we both had that same wild child attitude that had probably toned down a bit (Raven refuses to believe that). Raven, on the other hand, was our adopted sister who we loved no less. And there was one thing we all shared in common. We were all mutants.

And in our anonymity lies our safety.

* * *

**A/N: Hey there peeps! I promise this won't be long, just wanted to say thank you for reading. It's my very first X-men story and I don't follow the comics much, so sorry for any inconsistencies. I hope you all liked it. Let me know if you want me to continue.**

**Signing off,**

**S.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Mutant and Proud**

"Mutant and Proud."

"Mutant and Proud?" I heard Raven talking to herself in the most utter state of confusion. I took a quick peek and saw her staring at the mirror, blank. "If only."

She walked out of the bathroom, in her natural blue form, wearing just a robe. "Would you date me?" I figured this question was directed towards Charles and tried to preoccupy myself in the book I was reading.

"Of course. Any young man would be lucky to have you. You are stunning."

It was hard not to tune in to the conversation, and even though it was mainly Charles and Raven-centric, I was sure that Raven wouldn't mind. We had many conversations like this ourselves, which always ended up with me telling Raven how beautiful she was, blue or not, and had to accept who she was.

"Looking like this?"

Honestly, I had always envied her ability to be beautiful as a human and as stunning as a Greek goddess in her true form. However, I felt that all said and done, Charles' opinion would always prevail mine. No two ways about it.

"Blue?" Raven's face dropped down. I nudged Charles in his elbow, indicating his utterly poor selection of words. He quickly nodded before turning to his book again. "You're my oldest friend."

"I'm your only friend." I tried to resist a growing smile on my face.

"Thank you for that." Charles' feigned hurt.

"Well?" She asked impatiently, stomping her foot on the ground.

"I'm incapable of thinking like that. I feel responsible for you. Anything else would just feel wrong." He replied, getting up from the seat next to me and proceeded towards the bookshelf. We were both working hard on completing our thesis, though Charles more than me.

"I don't know what's gotten into you lately. You're too concerned with your looks." Charles told her as he casually slipped a pencil over his ear and sat on the sofa.

"For the record, if my opinions count," I began, gaining the attention of Charles and Raven, "I think you are gorgeous, Raven, and anyone would jump into your bones, even more readily in your natural form."

She flashed me one of her grins and I was glad to have taken her mind of it. Speaking of which, I could feel Charles barging in mine.

_A bit too explicit, don't you think?_

_Fine. I'll PG-13 it a bit._

"What I wanted to say was you have nothing to worry about. You're perfect." I told her before taking a quick glance in Charles' direction. He nodded before diving back into his book.

"Read to me." Raven strode over his side and placed her head on his chest.

"I can't. We have our thesis coming up Raven, we need to study."

"So go ahead. Your thesis will send me right of."

…..

"I refuse to walk two drunkards home." My eyes hovered to the large beaker placed on the table. Raven opened a bottle of rum and poured its contents in, my words falling deaf on her ears.

"Did you not hear what I said?" I leaned against the table; hoping one of them would acknowledge me.

"Oh, we heard you." Charles replied though his eyes were hooked onto the bottle Raven was emptying. "We just chose to ignore you."

Raven shook the bottle vigorously, draining out the very last drops before placing the bottle aside. "Here you go." She handed over the beaker to Charles and he walked over to the center of the bar, with a large crowd beginning to surround him.

"You two are on your own." I snapped at Raven.

"We all know that's never going to happen."

"Why not?"

She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, shaking her head. "Because of your Mother hen instincts."

Mother hen?

"What?"

"In the words of the great Charles Xavier," she cleared her throat, "you have the impeccable ability to ruin others fun with your over-cautiousness."

I was perplexed for a moment. "I'm not over-cautious."

"Of course you are."

"Well," I straightened my blouse jacket, "there is no harm in being a little careful."

"Says the girl who once got so drunk that she jumped in a pond, _without her shirt."_

I flushed, my cheeks turning a darker shade of red by the minute. Raven shot a cheeky grin in my direction. "What happened to her?"

I stuttered, trying to find the right words for a comeback. "She….. umm….. learnt her lesson."

_She learnt her lesson_. I mentally slapped myself. Was that the best I got?

"She can also learn to let go." Raven pushed a drink- which I hadn't previously noticed- towards me. "Now, if you excuse me, Charles needs someone to cheer him up." She skipped towards him, her blonde curls bouncing behind her. I took a long look at the brown contents of my glass. Probably one drink wouldn't hurt. I took a sip, letting the burning liquid seep in.

"_Drink, Drink"_

The crowd was getting hyped and then there were loud roars. Presumably, Charles had done the _impossible. _I craned my neck a little to the right and saw Charles lift the beaker in the air, as if he had won a trophy, letting out his own victory scream. It was certain now that I would at least be carrying Charles home and I took another swig of my drink.

He strode right past me and walked towards the bar, likely to have another round. But then I saw the blonde from last night-whose name I didn't really bother to remember-eying Charles in a very seductive way. Immediately, I downed my drink in a single gulp. In the highly likely situation that I had to carry them both home, I would rather choose to not remember it the following day.

"Whoa, guess you took my advice after all." Raven sat beside me with a dark colored liquid in her hand that I was hoping was cola.

I nodded and reverted my gaze to the bar. The blonde was standing alone. Then where the hell was Charles?

"Where is Charles?"

Raven turned around, searching all over the place before pointing at a table further from ours. A woman with auburn hair was sat with a man who resembled Charles, though we were observing from back. I closed my eyes, trying to get into their conversation.

"…mutation took us..."

I raised my eyes in scorn, "its Charles."

"Who is she?" Raven balanced her head on her hand and stared at them.

"Stop staring, it's obvious." I tapped her on the head, "We'll ask him when he comes."

A couple of minutes later, the two of them stood up and parted with a handshake. He proceeded towards us and we bombarded him with our questions right away.

"Who is she?"

"What happened to Amy?"

We met our answers through a simple sentence.

_We're leaving for the States tonight. We're wanted by the CIA._

…

"Thank you gentlemen." Charles curtly finished his presentation and took his seat. I was seated between Raven and Agent MacTaggert, who insisted we call her Moira.

"MacTaggert, do you really think some crackpot scientist is going to make me believe in sparkling dames and vanishing men? You just bought yourself a ticket to the typing pool." The bespectacled CIA agent, who I assumed was the chief, spoke. "This meeting is over."

Moira got up, disappointed before Charles asked her to remain seated. "I'm sorry; I haven't been entirely honest with you, love." He then turned his attention towards the two CIA agents before continuing, "One of the spectacular things my mutation allows me to do is that I can read your mind."

The older of the two men chuckled, as if this was highly amusing, "I have seen this trick before. Are you going to ask me to count from one to ten?"

This amused Charles as well, "Actually Agent Stryker, I would rather ask you about the Jupiter missiles America are currently placing in Turkey."

The whole room was plunged into silence before chaos broke out. "You brought a spy! You brought a god damn spy!"

I glanced at Charles, nervously. _Do something!_

On cue, Raven got up and morphed into Agent Stryker. The noise died down almost immediately with everyone-except Charles and I-gaping at Raven before she turned back to her blue form.

"How's that for a magic trick?"

"Best one I've ever seen." The man sitting at the back, who I hadn't noticed before, spoke up. He looked intrigued and excited rather than the terror and panic among his peers.

"I want them locked down before we can figure out what to do." The chief cried.

I took a deep breath as the man sitting behind spoke again, "My facility is offsite, I'll take them."

…..

"I always knew there were people like you." The agent exclaimed. "I've been the laughing stock of the agency for years but not anymore."

I smiled at him softly. He seemed like a nice man but I would really wish that he would stop talking. It seemed like there was no end to his questions. I guess Charles and Raven shared my opinion as well.

"And what can you do?" I didn't realize the question was addressed to me until I saw him waiting eagerly for my response. "What are your powers?" I froze on my spot, my legs all of a sudden feeling heavy and rigid. That's when I felt Charles' warm hand gently squeeze mine.

_It's alright._

"Umm…. superhuman abilities." My throat felt dry. The words barely left my mouth.

"That means she's stronger, faster…" Raven pitched in.

"Heightened senses." Charles completed.

"Wow."

Thankfully, Moira pulled over her car at the right moment.

"You're going to love my facility…"

"Well that would have to wait," Charles politely cut him off, "agent MacTaggert has got a lead on Shaw." He opened the door and bent over, smiling at Moira. "We just had a lovely conversation."

"Yes, we did." She agreed, turning her gaze at the baffled CIA agent who seemed to be loving the surprises thrown his way.

"That's incredible. But I can't take you anywhere without orders from above."

"Would you like to see another magic trick?" Charles placed two of his fingers at the side of his forehead. I quickly got in the car with Raven following. "Get in the car."

…..

I was horrified by the sight in front of me. I closed my eyes and pinched myself, hoping that this was only a nightmare and that I would wake up. I took a deep breath before opening my eyes, only to find it still there, its grey metal mocking me.

"Charles," I called out, "Are you sure there is no other way?"

"I'm sorry, no." He replied.

"Oh, come on." I whined. "You know how I feel about ships." I may have sounded like a fussy twelve year old at the moment but that didn't matter.

"This is the only way to get to Shaw." He answered, his blue eyes staring into my brown ones. "It's all in your head." He stated, tapping gently on my forehead. "Once you get that, you wouldn't have to worry about your _seasickness _anymore."

I nervously bit my lower lip. "Probably now is not the right time to experiment."

He sighed and turned around to see if there was anyone behind him. "Kate," he said in a hushed voice, "you already know how the CIA feels about us. I don't want anything happening to you while I'm gone."

My lips pressed in a flat line. "Fine." I scoffed. "Even though I could take them all down if I wanted to."

"I know that, little one." He grinned, placing an arm around my shoulder. "Come on, time to go."

I could feel the bile building up in my stomach as we climbed aboard the ship. I figured I could hang around the deck for quite the trip and that if I did have the need to puke, Mother Ocean would be at the receiving end of it.

True to my word, I hung around the deck while everyone resorted to planning the attack against Shaw in a nearby room. I held onto the railing, moving back and forth on the balls of my feet. A cold wind blew causing my long brown hair to fly in the wind. With much difficulty, I pushed the strands of hair from my face and tucked them inside my jacket. Suddenly, I noticed something moving in the water. If I hadn't known any better, I could have sworn I saw a man swimming to the other side. I rubbed my eyes but he had vanished.

_Must be my mind playing games with me. Seasickness was really getting to me._

A while later, Charles, Moira and Raven arrived. Apparently they had located Shaw and were sending the fleet after him. A smaller ship came into view, glimmering in its lights and I instantly recognized it as Shaw's. Charles brought two fingers to his temple and closed his eyes. He cringed slightly before opening them again.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I've lost Shaw. I guess there is someone like me on that ship." He saw Moira's confused expression before clarifying himself, "A telepath. This is amazing; I can actually feel her inside my mind." He then looked at her apologetically, "I'm sorry I won't be much of your help tonight."

Out of nowhere, gales of wind blew rapidly towards the naval ships, wiping them out of the way.

"We need to leave." Charles grabbed my arm and pulled me with him. Raven was in front of us and we proceeded to the lower deck. We had almost reached when Charles leaned against the wall, wincing in pain.

"There's someone out there." He explained. Realization dawned on me. It was the man I saw earlier. Charles was already on his way up.

Damn you Charles.

"Charles!"

I ran behind him and saw him standing at the edge of the railing. Large metallic anchors were floating in the air, wrapping itself around the boat and crushing it as if it were a paper ball. The man was slowly disappearing out of view, almost as he was drowning.

"You have to let it go! You'll drown!" Charles screamed. We watched on, hoping for him to come up to the surface but after a few minutes it seemed highly unlikely. In the spur of the moment, Charles ran towards the edge and jumped off.

"Charles!"

Raven and Moira quickly came by my side and we looked into the water, desperately searching for Charles.

_Charles, where are you?_

"We're here!" I heard Charles scream over a distance. I sighed in relief. When he comes aboard, I'm going to kill him.

The two men were carefully hoisted up to the ship. Raven grabbed a couple of towels and ran towards them with me trailing behind. She pounced on Charles, pulling him into a bear hug and handed over the towels.

"Don't you ever do that again." She smacked him on the shoulder.

"I promise." He smiled and looked up to see me coming. I guess he was expecting a similar type of greeting but I had other plans on my mind. I walked right up to him and _slapped _him. He looked momentarily shocked and I felt satisfied with what I did. How on earth does he expect me to hug him when he nearly killed himself?

"Ouch?" He asked, running his hand over his red cheek. It was pretty red now that I noticed. Maybe I should have gone a little softer.

"You dumb twit. You nearly killed yourself!" Charles looked amused which annoyed me even more.

"Glad to know you still care for me." He replied cockily. I restrained myself from landing another slap on his cheek when I noticed the man standing next to him. He was much taller than Charles and was a bit muscular for his lean frame. His green eyes were staring down, as if he were thinking.

"This is Erik Lensherr," Charles introduced, "and Erik, these are my sisters Raven and Katherine and this is agent MacTaggert."

Erik seemed mysterious. He didn't say a word though I believe he was mentally scanning all of us. He then excused himself and walked off, leaving me quite curious about him.

"Don't worry, he'll come along." Charles answered. "I think we had a long day and it's only fair we get some rest."

…..

I couldn't sleep. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't sleep. I could feel the waters constantly rocking the ship and hear the numerous sounds from the ocean, all which made me feel uncomfortable. We were only docking tomorrow morning and I just needed to get through this night. Staying at the deck was probably my best option. I made for the deck when I saw a tall figure leaning against the railing.

Why, it was our new guest.

I decided a conversation would probably put my mind of sickness and strolled towards him. I stood right next to him and though he didn't acknowledge my presence, I felt that he knew. For a couple minutes none of us said a word. Erik Lensherr seemed much quieter than I expected. I decided that I could probably initiate the conversation. "So, do you have any personal vendetta against Shaw?"

He flinched when I mentioned Shaw and his muscles tensed up. He then turned towards me, giving me a glare which made me feel extremely intimidated.

"You Xavier siblings are extremely inquisitive, aren't you?" I could feel the anger seeping through his words and wondered what I said to annoy him.

"I don't think I understand."

A cold chuckle left his lips. "Your brother read my mind, saw things that weren't meant to be seen and now you come along with a set of your own questions."

I couldn't understand the point he was trying to make. If he didn't want to answer my question, he could have just said so. Why channel all your anger on me?

"I thought there was no harm in asking, especially if we're going to be working as a team…"

Charles did mention about asking Erik to join us and help defeat Shaw.

"I'm not on the team." He barked.

That was the final straw for me.

"Yes, since you were doing so well hunting Shaw on your own that my brother nearly _died_ trying to save your life." I spat. Erik looked a bit taken aback; he wasn't expecting me to lash out like this. I slowly started walking back to my room and I could feel his eyes burning through my back. But I wasn't done yet.

"And you didn't even have the audacity to thank him."

That was the last nail in the coffin.

* * *

**A/N: Just wanted to say a special thank you to syrac123747, LEXA14, Night-Storms, NightStalkerblade, cwatker222, justsummer, tedmynameisfred, tibreezy and Dark Raven Jester for reading/reviewing/following/favoring. **

**Thank you for reading,**

**S.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: A series of blunders**

The CIA covert facility was everything I had imagined, a large building in the middle of an isolated area, as if it were taken out of the movies.

The CIA agent stood his full length, smiling from ear to ear. He led us around excitedly, like a child showing off his new toy. We finally entered a room with a model airplane hanging from the ceiling.

"It's a supersonic. You should see it in real life, it's amazing." A young boy, who couldn't be more than 19, stepped from behind, admiring the plane. He looked at us and sheepishly fiddled with his glasses.

"This is Hank, our most talented and young scientist." The agent began, "Hank, these are the new recruits I was talking about."

Charles looked thrilled. He walked over and introduced himself. "How amazing, another mutant already. Why didn't you say?"

Hank was shocked, which was pretty much the expression of everyone present in the room.

"Say what?" The CIA agent asked, confused.

Charles took a deep breath. "Because you didn't know. I'm so sorry." He gave a regretful glance to Hank.

"It's alright." He shrugged.

"Hank?" The CIA agent stepped forward, questioningly.

"You didn't ask so I didn't tell."

"So your mutation is what? You're super smart?" I glanced over to see Raven walking in front. Her eyes were gleaming while Hank looked down, blushing.

Ah, teenage love.

"I wish that's all it was."

I noticed quite a crowd gathering around Hank, leaving only me and Erik behind. I immediately took a step forward, not wanting to be left with him, especially after the events of last night.

"You're among friends now, Hank. You can show off." I said, flashing him a comforting smile. He seemed reluctant before he removed his shoes and socks off, revealing his feet. He looked pretty uncomfortable but I found them amazing. To anyone else, it would have been disturbing but it was an object of wonder for me. His mutation was marvelous.

"Splendid." Charles voiced my opinion.

We stood for a while, glancing at Hank's feet before he excused himself and proceeded to the middle of the room. We moved back to give him some space. He jumped and to my surprise, hung at the edge of the jet, upside down.

The room erupted with claps and howls –which I was pretty sure, were from Raven- and he looked even more embarrassed by all the attention he was receiving.

"Amazing."

…

Hank was a fun kid to be around, that is, if we got him out of his shell. I also figured that he hadn't spent much time around girls, given his initial awkwardness with me. But we moved past that with not much difficulty. He was highly intelligent, thus making him a befitting companion to talk about the human genome and related topics so when I returned back to Oxford, I wouldn't be like a rusty old Professor.

Well, that is if I make it out of this alive.

_Optimism, Katherine. Be optimistic._

Finally when the clock struck 11 pm, I excused myself and decided to head back, but not before a cheeky idea crossed my mind. I picked a piece of paper and pen lying on the table, scribbled a few numbers on it and handed it to Hank.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Raven's room number. Just in case you wanted to say hello." I winked at him and exited his lab, leaving a pretty red Hank behind.

I crossed over and headed towards my room when I noticed Charles walking hurriedly towards the gate.

"Charles," I called out. He stopped and glanced at me, though he seemed a little worried. "What happened?"

"It's Erik." He stated, "He's leaving."

"Good riddance."

"You're going to help me stop him."

"Wha- Why?"

It was probably a blessing in disguise, having Erik leave. A few more days and I would have probably kicked him out myself.

"You can kick him out later," Charles answered. "Now you're going to stop him."

I groaned but then again, Charles had a point. Erik knew Shaw better than anyone of us and we would have an actual chance in defeating Shaw with Erik by our side.

"Glad to know you're thinking clearly."

"Damn it, Charles. Stop reading my mind!"

I dragged myself towards the gate with Charles leading in front of me. We reached in time for Erik was almost gone.

"From what I know of you, I'm surprised you managed to stay this long." Charles called out.

Erik paused in his tracks and turned around to look at Charles. As his eyes fell on me, a glare slowly formed on his face.

_Well, nice to see you too._

"What do you know about me?" Erik snarled.

"Everything."

"Then you will know to stay out of my head."

I stayed put on my spot, not knowing what to say.

"I'm sorry Erik, but I have seen and felt your pain, your anguish."

I felt Charles give me a mental nudge.

_It's your turn._

_And what am I supposed to say? You know I don't actually favor this man staying here._

_Katherine!_

_Okay, alright._

"Here, you have chance to be part of something bigger than yourself," I began, looking over at Charles who urged me to continue, "and Charles could stop you… but he won't." Erik momentarily looked down before his green eyes were locked on mine again. "And I could probably throw you on my back and take you inside… but I won't." I could feel Charles mentally slapping himself.

The ball was on Erik's court now; I left it up to him to decide. Charles slowly started walking back inside and when I was at the door, with my hand on the handle, I called out to Erik, who was still standing on his spot, "Shaw's got friends, and you could do with some too."

…...

"Kate."

Someone was sitting beside me, shaking me gently.

"Go away, I want to sleep!"

"Wake up, Kate."

My eyes slowly fluttered open and I saw a tuft of blonde locks falling on my face and a pair of blue eyes staring at me.

"Get off, Raven." I pushed my sister off me and flung a pillow at her.

"Come on, Hank wants to show us something and Charles wants us to be present."

"Good luck trying to get that happen."

Raven slowly got off and walked out. Pleased, I pulled the sheets over me and went back to my blissful sleep. But not for long. The door opened, a bright ray of sunshine peeking in, and then closed again.

"Katherine."

"Go away." I mumbled.

A pair of strong hands wrapped around me. "Katherine."

I opened my eyes to see green ones looking into mine. "It's time to wake up."

That voice could only belong to one person.

"Erik?"

I jumped and rolled off my bed. I sprung up, shocked while he stood on the other side, his arms crossed around his shoulders.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Raven asked me to help her wake you up." He replied, flatly.

I picked up the thing nearest to me- a pillow- and flung it at him.

"Get out! Now!"

He smirked at me.

Wait a minute, Erik doesn't smirk- heck I haven't even seen him smile.

A flash of blue appeared and Raven stood in his place, laughing uncontrollably.

"You should have seen your face." She said in between giggles. "It was hilarious."

I glared at her. "That wasn't funny."

"Of course it was. Besides it got the work done."

I didn't say a word. I nabbed my clothes and stomped to the washroom.

…...

"I call it Cerebro." Hank announced.

We stepped in to Hank's latest experiment. It was very impressive, I had to admit. Charles was already on the platform, ready with the helmet on his head. Raven walked over to Hank, who enthusiastically explained the whole system to her.

I turned around, taking in my surroundings when I glanced over Erik, leaning against the edge. "So you decided to stay."

"Charles made a valid argument. Not to mention, it would be a bit demeaning to have a girl throw me on her back and carry me inside." He flashed me a cocky smirk before looking over to Charles. I rolled my eyes.

"What an adorable lab rat you make, Charles." Erik said.

"Don't ruin this for me, Erik."

"I've been a lab rat." He replied, pointing a finger to his chest, "I know one when I see one."

I raised an eyebrow. What did he mean by that? Charles mentioned Erik having a tumultuous childhood and I had assumed various reasons for it, but not once such a situation coming to my mind.

"Are you sure we can't shave your head?" Hank asked Charles one last time before switching the device.

"Don't touch my hair." Charles bluntly replied.

I leaned against the railing, watching as Hank flipped on all the switches. The helmet shone brightly and the engines roared. Charles remained calm, his eyes closed, before he shrieked and tightly held onto the railing. For a minute, we all stood still before I realized it was a shriek of amazement, not pain. I stood by Erik and watched in amazement.

"It's working." Hank exclaimed. The machine rapidly printed co-ordinates of all the mutants Charles could locate. Hank pulled out the sheet of paper and noted down the locations. Charles took off the helmet and took a quick look at the paper. "Right Erik, I think we should leave immediately."

"And what about us?" I asked, standing by Raven.

_I need you to stay here, Kate. _Charles' voice echoed in my mind.

_Why?_

_Because Raven is not coming and I need you to stay with her. Remember what I said about the CIA?_

_Okay._

…...

It wasn't fair, really. Raven went off with Hank almost every morning and I wouldn't see her until dinner. Moira, too, was busy and I had no company. As for Erik and Charles, I bet they would be having the time of their lives, even if they were finding other mutants.

Finally a week later, they arrived with a batch of mutants, all of whom were only in their late teens. Except for a few, I was hoping. They were extremely young and I felt a bit guilty for having involved them in such circumstances.

"Kate, do you have a minute?" Charles came up from behind.

"Yes, what happened?"

"Erik and I have a meeting with the CIA." He said, "And I was wondering if you could watch over the mutants."

"Why me? Why should I babysit a bunch of teenagers? They would do fine on their own." I stated.

"I didn't mean babysit. I meant _supervise."_ He flashed me those puppy-dog eyes that I would gladly pluck out. After a bit of contemplation, I finally gave in.

"Fine."

"Thank you." He gave me a small peck on my cheek and scurried off, leaving me to wonder what I got myself into.

…...

I entered the room the CIA had graciously lent for us. The teens were spread all over and I felt out of place.

"Kate!" Raven rushed by my side, pulling me into a tight but short hug. She pulled me with her, gave me a quick introduction and sat me in between herself and Hank.

"We are government agents now." She started in what seemed to be a well-thought and well-rehearsed speech, "we should think of code-names. I want to be called Mystique."

"Damn, I wanted to be called Mystique." The ginger, whose name was Sean, spoke.

"Tough luck, I called it." She shrugged and instantly morphed into him. Everyone jumped in their seats, with the exception of me, before she reverted back to her normal form.

"Darwin, what about you?" I asked.

"Well, Darwin is already a nickname, sort of fits. Adapt to survive and all. Check this out." He got up and made for the fish tank, dunking his head inside. To my surprise, gills grew from the sides of his face. He then pulled his head out and came back to his place.

"What about you?" He asked, pointing at Sean.

"I want to be….. Banshee."

"Why do want to be named after a wailing spirit?" Hank asked.

"You might want to cover your ears." He replied. I placed my hands over my ears and held them tightly, not wanting to hurt my super sensitive ears. He took a deep breath and let out a high pitched shriek which cracked the glass pane.

Unfortunately, he might have also burst my eardrums.

Next was Angel's turn. She got up and took of her jacket, "My stage name is Angel," Sean let out a wolf-whistle, "Kind of fits." The tattoos on her back emerged as wings, flapping wildly in the air.

"You can fly?" Raven asked excitedly.

"Uh huh," she replied, turning to the broken pane, "and this." She spat out a toxic fire ball which burnt straight through the statue's head. The room erupted in peals of laughter.

"What's your name?" She asked Hank.

"How about big foot?" Alex chimed.

Hank looked down, dejectedly. I guess I had to stand up for him. "Well you know what they say about guys with big feet."

"And yours are kind of small." Raven piped in. Hank shot us both a grateful glance and I smiled back at him.

"And what are your powers, Katherine?" Sean asked me.

I looked at Raven, who shot me the don't-worry-I'm-here look. I took a deep breath. I was surrounded by people like me. I had nothing to be afraid of. Just a small demo. I wouldn't overdo it. "Superhuman abilities."

"Can you show us?" Angel asked.

I nodded and got up from my seat. I walked behind the couch I previously sat on and placed a hand under it. "You might want to hold on." I warned Raven and Hank. I effortlessly lifted the couch in one hand and observed the astonished faces staring at me. I then gently placed them down and took my seat. There was a minute of silence before Alex spoke, "We got a badass in the house." I turned red as there was a series of howls.

Eager to divert the attention from me, I looked up at Alex, "What is your gift, Alex?"

He instantly mellowed down. "I can't do it here."

"Can you do it out there?" Darwin asked.

He looked down, contemplating and the room started echoing with his name. "Alex, Alex."

He held his hand up and stepped outside. "Get down when I tell you." Everyone crowded behind the corner wall and watched.

"Get back."

We leaned back for a second before peeking out again. The excitement was just too much.

"Get back!"

No one budged.

"Whatever."

Red rings formed around his body and swirled all over the place, one hitting the statue and slicing it into half. We all started clapping as he triumphantly walked back in.

Raven ran over to the shelves and pulled out bottles of beer and handed it over to each one of us.

"No way, No one is getting drunk." I announced. I was an alcoholic teenager and from my past experience, it never ended well.

"Relax mother-hen." Raven shoved a beer bottle in my hands, "have some fun."

It only took a minute for everything to fall apart. Someone had turned on the radio and was blasting the music, Raven was on the couch dancing, Angel was flying around, Hank was hanging from the chandelier and Alex and Sean took turns at hitting Darwin, who now sported a rock-like body.

"Stop, please." I pleaded.

No one heard me.

"They are an exceptional bunch of young people." I heard Charles say from a distance. Oh no, they were on their way.

"Raven, off the couch." I tried to pull her down but it was of no use. I decided to try my luck with Hank. "Hank, get down." My words fell a deaf ear on him.

"What are you doing?" I heard a loud scream. I turned around to see Moira, hands on her hips, glaring at us. Charles and Erik were by her side, with the former looking displeased. "Who destroyed the statue?"

"It was Alex." Hank mumbled.

"No Havok, we have to call him Havok, that's his name now," Raven stepped forward, "And we were thinking, you should be Professor X," she said, pointing and Charles, "and you should be Magneto." She shifted her gaze towards Erik.

"Exceptional." Erik replied, unimpressed.

Moira walked off, followed by Erik while Charles stood, utterly disappointed. His eyes hovered to the beer bottle in my hands.

_No, Charles._

"I expect more from you." He told me and walked off.

…...

This sucked.

Charles was angry and he would probably be blaming me for everything, He thinks I got _drunk,_ after all.

Well, there was no harm in getting drunk now.

I went up to the damaged room and took the beer bottle I had placed on the table. If anyone saw me, they would call me crazy for glaring at a bottle. If only they knew.

I broke of the top and took a sip. The contents burned through my throat and brought an instant relief to the pile of emotions I had become. I hopped off and sat down on the lawn, staring at the night sky while taking a sip every now and then.

"To be honest, even for me, this is a bit early."

I didn't even have to look back to know who was speaking.

"Erik, to what do I owe this honor?"

"You're an early drinker?"

"I figured its happy hour somewhere, isn't it?" I asked groggily. "And what are you doing here?"

"I came for a run."

"A run? What's the time?"

"5 in the morning."

My eyes widened. "5 in the morning? Are you insane? Who goes for a run at an hour like this?"

"Who gets drunk at an hour like this?" He countered.

"Fair enough."

There was a moment of silence before Erik spoke,

"You should know, your actions last night nearly cost us our mission. You were irresponsible and reckless."

I took a deep breath. "You're judging me, aren't you Erik?"

His face hardened. "You don't know that."

"Your words say otherwise."

"We're leaving for Russia in the morning," he began, "and irrespective of whether or not I'm judging you, the same can't be said for Charles. He trusts you enough to leave the group with you... _again."_

I gaped at him in disbelief.

"It's true." He said, turning around to his room, "Now get some rest. You don't want to mess this up as well."

...

**A/N: Just wanted to say a special thank you to Bat's Girl, Evenlight, LndsyElizabth, 19Gaara19, .love, Shades-Soul, Climb The Mountain, xenocanaan, Aprilfool98, Dawn Racer, Mikado X Goddess, Emmachibi, Flyleaf Lover 13, beautifulgreek523, Dottz271, NimueTheSorceress, 666AnimeFan666, StarReader2009, sammyxxjames for Reading/Reviewing/Following/Favoring.**

**Thank you for reading,**

**S.**


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